Friday, February 5, 2016

Parashat Mishpatim

Shabbat Shalom!
This week’s Torah Portion is Parashat Mishpatim. Traditionally, commandments in
the Torah are seen as being in one of two categories: chukim or mishpatim. The
word mishpatim is understood to mean “laws”, the rules that we are given, but
we probably could have figured out on our own. This usually means ethical laws,
like “Don’t kill or steal”. The word chukim, on the other hand, is understood
to mean “ordinances,” the rules that we are given to help us serve God, which
might not always make sense. This usually means ritual commandments, like the
laws concerning how a priest should properly perform sacrifices. So the fact
that this parasha is called mishpatim already tells us something about the sort
of commandments we’re going to see in this portion.

The portion comes
in the Torah right after the receiving of the Ten Commandments, which contains
both chukim (keep the Sabbat) and mishpatim (don’t steal or kill). However, the
great medieval commentator, Rashi, claims that the written chronology of the Torah
doesn’t necessarily reflect the order in which these things actually happened.
So, he says, this reading of the mishpatim actually precedes the giving of the
Ten Commandments. This is a flashback, basically. At the end of this parasha
the people say, “We will do and we will hear,” (Exodus 24:7), which had caused
a lot of confusion over the years. Don’t we usually hear the instructions
first, and then commit to do them? It’s important to note that, according to
Rashi’s reading that this portion is actually taking place before the Ten
Commandments, the people have not yet personally heard from God yet. This means
that when the people say, “We will do and we will hear,” they really haven’t
actually yet heard God at all. They’ve only heard Moses report on what God has
said, and they’re expressing an interest in having a more personal connection
with God. Rashi says that what the
people mean is, “We will do the rules you have given us, and we will hear the additional
ones that you will give us now.” Some laws were given before Sinai, and we call
these Noahide laws, rules that are good for everyone to follow, even if they
are not Jewish. Although the word mishpatim usually refers to the laws of Sinai,
from this portion, it could be an example of the people accepting the
mishpatim, the rational laws of how to behave like a good person, and saying, “Now
we’re ready to hear the rules that maybe won’t make sense to us, because we
trust in God.”

In the same
section of the portion it says that Moses “wrote these words,” and it is upon
this verse that the tradition that Moses wrote the Torah is based. Rashi says,
he wrote everything from Creation to this moment, including the laws given at
Marah, which aren’t actually explicitly stated in our Torah. We just know that
before Sinai, people had received some commandments at Marah (a place where the
Israelites camped at one point in the journey from the Exodus). Therefore, the
people are not only saying, “We will do” to the commandments given so far, and “We
will hear” to rest they know are coming, but are responding to the narrative of
all of history thus far. They are being reminded of all that God has done for
the world and humanity since the beginning of time, and they are saying, “We
will follow all of God’s commandments, we are ready for the Revelation.”

As modern Reform
Jews, we don’t always follow all the chukim. We do care more about the
mishpatim, the rules that govern our regular behavior and help guide us to be
good people. No one observes the laws of sacrifice anymore, but as Reform Jews
we may also not observe the laws of Shabbat or Kashrut, either. What would it
mean for us, “to do and to hear?” Maor Va-Shemesh, a nineteenth century
Chasidic commentator who more or less agrees with Rashi’s reading of this parasha,
adds a helpful insight: when the Torah says “On this day, they came to the
wilderness of Sinai,” the significance of saying “this” and not “on that day”
is to teach that we should feel as if the words of Torah and God are new to us
each day. Every day is a new revelation, a new Sinai. This is the part we can
relate to. When we say, “we will do and we will hear,” we may not mean “we will
follow ALL of God’s commandments,” as the ancient Israelites did, but we mean, “We
will do all the mishpatim that make us better people, and we will listen for
God’s guidance in our day to day lives.” We mean, “We will inspect the
tradition and find the things that are meaningful for us and help us observe
the rational laws.” We mean, “I want to be part of this chain of tradition that
teaches us to continuously study and interpret Torah in order to find its
relevance to the modern day.”

In the beginning
of the Torah portion, God tells the laws regarding a Hebrew slave. The Israelites
have just been freed from Egyptian slavery, and should now be serving no master
but God. But, financial hardship might make it such that a person must sell their
self into slavery. The Israelites are not to keep their slaves forever, and are
to deal fairly with their slaves, especially when it is time to let their slave
go. However, if a slave wants to stay with their master forever, they may
commit themself by allowing their master to more or less staple their ear to
the door post. Tradition teaches this is because to choose to be a slave to
another human is to revoke the statement, “We will do and we will hear.” Part
of being Jewish is listening for God, hearing the ways in which we must each
grapple with the commandments and keep rituals because they enrich our lives.
Giving up one’s autonomy is an affront to the God who freed us and it is a way
of saying one no longer wants to be alert to the further and finer intimations
of God’s will, but would rather become robots who fulfill lives of only doing
what others ask. As a result of this offense against the slave’s ability to “hear,”
the ear, the source of hearing, is mutilated.

Of course, this is
also a practice that is now completely dead, as there are no more slaves in
Jewish cultures. However, the warning remains: a life without trying to
understand God on your own terms is a life of slavery to other humans’
understandings. Approach each day as one with the possibility of revelation,
and say to the world, to yourself, to God, “I will do and I will hear!” And thus
may each day bring you a deeper understanding of the world, yourself, and God. Amen
and Shabbat Shalom.